5 SOLUTIONS FOR ACCURATE EMAIL RENDERING

1. TABLES AREN’T JUST FOR THE DINING ROOM
Use tables when building an HTML email because CSS elements such as position and float are not supported across all email clients.

2. THE LATEST, IS NOT ALWAYS THE GREATEST
HTML code for emails is old school. Emails should be built under an HTML 4 Transitional doctype and need to be validated.

3. CSS – CAN’T STYLE SHEETS
Most email clients will likely ignore any CSS styling unless it’s done inline. Yeah, yeah… it’s a pain if your client decides they want the text to be grey and not black, but coding inline CSS for email is a fundamental technique for ensuring consistency.

If you need to style single words, then use the <span> tag. It is an inline element and can be used not just for coloring elements or increasing the text size, but also for positioning elements above or below content.

You may also want to include a <span style=”color:#yourcolor”> inside an href as some email clients have default link styles that override your link color.

4. BACK THAT [IMG] UP
The background-image property of an element is supported by roughly half of all email clients. If you’re going to use background images, remember to provide a background-color just in case.

5. TOO MUCH IS JUST ENOUGH
Specify height, width, alignment, alternate text, title, country of origin, denomination, marital status… okay you get it. You should always be as specific as possible when coding email so that nothing is assumed by an email client’s rendering.

These are just some of the most common issues our teams run into while coding emails for our clients. What are some of the issues/remedies you’ve encountered?  Share your expertise with our readers by posting your comment below!

The basics: There are two distinct types of email client.

1. Web-based: Simply means access to email via web interface (Yahoo Mail, Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail, etc.)
2. Desktop/Mobile Application: Email software installed on a desktop, laptop, or smart phone which retrieves email for you over POP or IMAP protocols.

With Web-based email clients, your HTML email is rendered by your web browser (Internet Explore, Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc.). Which means quality assurance and testing can generally be performed within a web browser and the results will be close to what you can expect to see within the specific email client. Of course, each client has it’s own quirks, such as Yahoo Mail’s dislike for displaying a background-color associated with the body tag, or Hotmail’s dislike for padded elements, but these are all issues that can be avoided. These “quirks” are safeguards to prevent an HTML email affecting the web-based email application’s interface as the application’s interface itself is built on HTML/CSS as well.

For desktop/mobile applications, consistency becomes much more difficult. These email applications tend to make up their own rules. The application can employ an installed browser’s HTML rendering engine, another application’s rendering engine, or provide its own. Prior to Outlook 2007 being released, Outlook used the Internet Explorer rendering engine which helped in achieving rendering consistency across browsers and other clients. However, when Microsoft decided to rely upon the MS Word rendering engine for Outlook 2007, that progress was defeated. Word’s HTML rendering has no support for background images, limited CSS support, and fails to render adequately a variety of coded email designs. The “bad news” is that some version of Outlook (including older versions) is utilized by 43% of all users, which means for email marketers it’s now imperative that we support this client in the best way we can.

Check back for next weeks’ article on suggested solutions for email rendering and learn what you can do to achieve successful results by coding your emails to accommodate email client inconsistencies.

Inevitable Evolution, Not Bad News

While we’d love to see research that shows open rates are increasing, the news that opens and clicks are declining is not surprising. More emails are sent to more people across more channels and devices than ever before. We’re more likely to read email on a mobile device; we open fewer emails and scan them more quickly. At the same time, we’re using better, harsher spam filters, so fewer emails reach inboxes in the first place. As for click decline, it’s largely attributable to how (and if) links are rendered. In order to thwart phishing, many email clients deliver messages without making the links clickable. The recipient must take an action to enable the links. (One of the reasons for the “add this sender to your address book” prompts). Emails viewed with images off or in text-only format also result in fewer clicks. So, a combination of list fatigue, technology, the end of the thrill of the new are among obvious reasons for open rate and clickthrough declines.

Smart Marketers Score

Smart marketers are responding to these trends by making their emails work harder. Better segmentation, customization, email production, customer service, copywriting and design help emails break through the clutter. The more relevant, timely and targeted your email, the more likely it is to succeed. Culling email lists and reducing transmission frequency can also help move email marketing efforts from quantity to quality, while checking emails acrosss multiple clients before transmission allows marketers to ensure the email works for all users.

Silver Linings

Don’t despair. There’s a lot of good news out there as well.  Email  remains a consistently  cost-effective communication channel, and continues to drive revenues for both B2B and B2C marketers. While click-to-purchase rates may be declining a bit as well, their decline is considerably lower than the declines in open and click rates (around 3.2% a year, according to an Epsilon study). Moreover, experts agree that the drop in click-to-purchase rates  can be attributed to the economy in general as much as to email user behaviors.  Similarly, while the percentage of adults who make a purchase because of an email (80% back in 2007, Epsilon) or share promotional emails via email or social channels (32% in 2009, Pace/IDM) may be dropping as well, those are promising numbers. Even if there’s been a decline, more than half of us make a purchase because of email and nearly a third of us share advertising messages we receive by email. Meanwhile, social marketing is opening new channels and doors. A 2010 study found that 20% of Facebook, MySpace and/or Twitter users posted or shared something from permission email to their social networks (Merkle).

Don’t Forget to Phone Your Aunt

Everyone likes a helpful reminder. We’re grateful when someone reminds us that it’s our sister’s birthday, or our favorite store is having a sale. But we’re not as keen on our mother’s imprecations to dress more warmly or phone Aunt Agatha. It’s the same with email: some reminders are useful and welcome, while others fall on deaf (aka unsubscribe-prone) ears.

We’ve found that good reminders yield high render and click rates and very few unsubscribes, while poorly honed reminder emails don’t connect and sometimes result in a slew of unsubscribes.

Your Email Pal: When Do Reminder Emails Succeed?

Reminder emails work when they are meaningful, timely, relevant and, above all, wanted. For example, when we like a brand or promotion, we’re happy to receive a reminder that a sale is ending. For B2B communications, that’s similar to a conference registration, or call for speakers.

The first step is writing a meaningful subject line so that your audience knows they are being reminded—and being informed of something relevant. The content and messaging is also important. For the most part, reminder emails work best when they are short, sweet and to the point.

The Email That Cried Wolf: When Do Reminder Emails Fail?

Reminder emails are less effective when they are blunter instruments, ill-timed, too frequent, or not relevant to or wanted by the receiver. No one wants multiple reminders about the same thing. Similarly, we get bored by re-cycled content or emails that are badly targeted.

For B2C marketers, it’s important to remember that sale and promotion extensions and frequent reminders may serve only to deafen your audience, or sound like you’re nagging them, or undermine your real, targeted messaging. The same is true in the B2B space, where multiple reminders simply sound like nagging or a desperate effort to get you to do something.

Reminder Rules

Keep subject lines and copy meaningful, make sure the content is relevant to the audience, and keep the email short and to the point. Let your recipients know that they are receiving a one-time reminder, or if they are in a series, be up front about that. You have to let the customer know that you’re not mindlessly re-sending the same copy to the same list.

Segmentation works. It’s important to make your email segmentation transparent.  Email Transmit recently sent a reminder email for NBC Universal that went only to recipients who had not clicked on a special promotion. eHarmony incorporates segmentation in subject lines, which state simply, “You haven’t read our emails lately.”

Permission Reminders

Some of the most welcome reminder emails are ones we ask for. Witness Amazon’s birthday list (receive an email a week before it’s your mum’s birthday), or Zappos “Notify Me” brand notices, which let you know when a particular product and size combination becomes available.

. . .

Savvy marketers know that relevance is more important than frequency, and quality trumps quantity. Reminder emails are no exception. Done right, they can work for you, but a poor reminder email sends the wrong message and sends subscribers running for the digital hills.

Before you send out your next email marketing campaign, consider some non-traditional sources to collect new email addresses. Think about where your customer interaction is strongest and reach out there to make contact and build your email list. That may mean collecting email addresses at conferences, or retail checkout, using social media, or converting snail mail recipients to email opt-ins. Your bigger, better email list might be a smart phone app away.

1- During Face-to-Face Interactions

It makes sense that you want to capitalize on a marketing relationship when that relationship begins or strengthens. So, go ahead and ask for email addresses during those types of interactions:

• During in-store checkout

• Conference registration or badge pick-up

• Meetings

• Networking events

If you are at a conference or meeting, chances are you have your smart phone (iPhone, Blackberry, Android, etc.) and maybe even an iPad by your side. Prepare a strategy for collecting addresses through those devices- either through a mobile web page or other app.

2- On your Social Sites

Mass Transmit's Facebook Page Email Opt-In

Put opt-in forms on all your social media pages that allow it, such as:

• Company blog

• Facebook page

In social media environments that don’t allow for opt-in forms, place a link to your opt-in page with a benefit statement that drives your visitors to it.

3- In your Email Signature

Every time you send an email from your personal account you have the ability to initiate an opt-in. Place links to your web site, social channels or a link directly to the opt-in on your web site.  Consider asking for the opt-in in your signature.  A simple “Sign up here for special offers” may be all it takes.

4- Twitter

Before you send your newsletter, announce it on Twitter and remind followers to sign up. Tweets saying that the newsletter will be sent tomorrow with an email-only offer will likely drive interested traffic to your opt-in form.

5- Snail Mail

If you have your contacts’ mailing addresses but not their email addresses, consider sending them a postcard with a redeemable online offer or entry in a web-based sweepstakes. On the web page, collect the recipients name, email address and any other usable information. If you want to get more mileage out of the offer, have social sharing options on the site where the recipient can share with their friends through email or the social media channel of their choice.

6- Use Your Brand Evangelists

Maximize the value of your best relationships. Consider having your audience grow your lists for you— and don’t be afraid to ask them to do so. Make elements on your site or email newsletter shareable (via forwarding, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) thereby driving traffic to your opt-in form pages and growing your audience. Remember, over 80% of American Internet users access at least one social media channel, and allowing recipients to share email content with their network boosts email campaign results—and helps grow your list.

To spread the word via social media channels and email, you may want to consider Group Transmit. This is a unique social/email platform that enables your core audience to spread the word about a brand, product or service quickly and easily.

The Permission Caveat

Don’t harvest email addresses and never add people to your email lists without their express permission. So, once you collect emails you still need to get permission prior to including them in your email campaign lists. Make sure you get this either via a web opt-in or a written consent from your contacts.

What other non-traditional methods have worked for you?

Would you like to receive our email newsletters?  Please opt-in at masstransmit.com or emailtransmit.com or on our Facebook page.

Many businesses send email newsletters as a way to communicate with their client or customer base. It’s a key component of the customer retention strategy. But how effective are email newsletters?  Do they really help with retention?

Perhaps the answer lies in the content.  What works for some may not work for all, but there are some general best practices you should consider.

1- Deliver content that recipients will find interesting. Put yourself in the recipient’s shoes and see if you’d enjoy receiving your email.
2- Provide value. Adding in special email-only offers, free downloads or other valuable content will keep your readers engaged.
3- Personalize. Don’t just start the email with the first name- create different versions or dynamic data based on your business relationship.
4- Let them know they’re appreciated. Doing so will be unique to every audience, but find a way to let recipients know you appreciate their business.

And there are also some things you’ll want to avoid with your email newsletters.

1- Do not only talk about yourself. Remember the 80/20 rule. Make at least 80% of your newsletter informational and only 20% or less promotional.
2- Do not get repetitive. Try to mix up your design, content, imagery, etc. Don’t let your message get stale.
3- Do not publish too frequently. Test or ask to figure out your ideal delivery schedule, and don’t inundate inboxes or your newsletters will have an adverse effect on your business.

Remember your goals– you want to keep your brand in front of your customers or clients and provide value so the next time they’re ready to purchase you’ll be at the top of the list. By delivering engaging email newsletters on a regular basis you’ll establish your business as an industry leader, inform and educate your recipients on your products, services or areas of expertise and solidify yourself as a reputable, interesting company. And that should help with retention as customers will continue to want to do business with you.

Have you had success with customer retention due to email newsletters?  Let us know by leaving a comment.

Marketing Is Measurement

Measurement goes beyond tracking an email or counting website sessions. Measurement should tell you about your brand, product and audience. It is a yardstick and a guidebook. There are a lot of metrics out there. Using them correctly is what marketing is all about.

First, measure.

As we discuss in 6 Steps for Improved Measurement, the first step in measuring your marketing initiatives is to get the data and understand the data. You should be measuring email renders and clickthroughs, opt-ins, forwards. Figure out Web metrics as well, such as impressions and downloads. And keep an eye on server data: monitor CPU load so that your server doesn’t bog down in the middle of a big marketing promotion.

Second, refine.

Once you have the basic metrics in place, use and refine the data. Don’t just track email renders, take a look at conversions. At Email Transmit, we’re big proponents of tracking conversions, whether that means a purchase or conference signup, since conversions are your bottom line metric. See Metrics that Matter. Figure out your abandonment rate. Look at reach versus frequency. A campaign with low net reach but high frequency can over-expose some audience groups and miss others entirely. For social media marketing efforts, you may want to look at share of voice, the “conversation index” of your product or brand. B2C marketers will want to assess your market share and compare it to that of your primary competitors.

Third, standardize.

It’s difficult to understand your marketing data let alone make it actionable if that data isn’t standardized. If you can’t compare apples to apples, then metrics quickly unravel. That’s why we are proponents and proud adopters of the new set of email marketing measurement standards called the Support Adoption of Metrics for Email (SAME). Email Transmit was one of the first two ESP’s to adopt the new metrics standards.

As you begin to compare results across media, it becomes important to standardize the bottom line reporting metrics as well, such as cost-per-conversion, cost-per-click or cost-per-point.

Fourth, prioritize.

Don’t wait to measure, and don’t wait to review your metrics. Part of good measurement is figuring out what data you need, what are the vital metrics.

Fifth, make it fast and frequent.

Your core measurement metrics should be easy to access and benchmark, so that you can track results continually to  revise your current campaign or build the next one.

Sixth, use it or lose it.

The data you collect and metrics you put in place need to be actionable. Track results and apply what you’ve learned. Those metrics are a compass for today’s marketing campaigns and a guidepost for tomorrow’s plans. The future of your brand may hinge on how well you understand metrics and how you translate that knowledge into opportunities. As Farris, Bendle, Pfeifer and Reibstein write in Marketing Metrics, “Marketers must understand their addressable markets quantitatively. They must measure new opportunities and the investment needed to realize them.”

It’s important that all Email Service Providers (ESP’s) adopt these new standards so that we have a common set of definitions industry-wide. Right now its not possible to compare campaign results from one system to another as they don’t follow the same calculations in their metrics. And forget aggregating any industry-wide metrics, even something as simple as an open rate, because that metric is calculated differently by various ESPs.

Earlier this week the Roundtable announced that Email Transmit was one of the first two ESP’s to adopt the new metrics standards. Read the press release and the DMNews article “Inbox Insider: E-mail measurement should be standardized“. They also mentioned 11 more ESP’s have committed to doing so in the next six months.

We’re clearly at the beginning of a significant improvement in our industry. With the work of the Roundtable members we hope to get other ESP’s to adopt the new standards and for other email platforms to use the metrics in their reporting definitions too.

If you’re interested in supporting the SAME project, start by signing the petition, then read the definitions. Make sure your ESP or email delivery platform has plans to implement the new metrics into their system. Hopefully in the near future we’ll all be able to abide by a common set of metrics and have usable industry-wide benchmarks based on the same definitions.

Despite the best efforts of email marketers, many variables affect the look of an email campaign. One of the biggest, default image handling, is based entirely on a reader’s email setup.

Some of the most used email clients, such as Gmail and all the Outlook variations, block images by default. Though this can be changed with a few mouse clicks, the majority of campaign subscribers stick to their email client’s stock set up to deal with images.

Besides being a minor annoyance for the reader, this development decision can wreak havoc on a brand’s ability to deliver consistent information by email.

Enter the bulletproof button.

Originated by the fine folks at Smith Harmon, the bulletproof button offers the best of both worlds. A brand can simultaneously ensure that a reader will see the most salient points of an email with images turned on or off.

The concept involves using tables for the HTML of the email and including both a background image and background color in the tag. The tag that holds the call-to-action (CTA) must be the same size as the image it houses.  With images enabled, the CTA is shown with an image as the background and the CTA as text. With images off, the end user sees a colored box instead of an image while the CTA looks the same.

We’ve prepared a number of examples and variations that you can use to maintain visual consistency. What’s even better is that we’ve provided all the code underneath the examples so feel free to copy it and use as you see fit.

We’ve also created a BULLETPROOF BUTTON GENERATOR for everyone to use. All you need to do is fill out the form and click submit. We’ll do the rest.

We hope you find the Bulletproof Button Generator helpful.  If you use it for any of your campaigns let us know (leave a comment below) and if you’re able to report your success metrics we’d love to hear its impact on your campaign.

For more information on the writing copy for buttons, check out Anthony Schneider’s Click Here article.

Bulletproof Button Examples

Feel free to borrow our button background images if you’d like, but please replace the absolute path of the image we’ve used with ones of your own.

A bad campaign can have a significant amount of negative impact on your brand. It can:
• destroy the confidence of your readers
• hurt your reputation
• guarantee a negative return on investment

When sending emails, accuracy is of the essence, not speed. So it’s key to create a process that eliminates potential mistakes.

One of the best ways to make sure your campaigns are mistake free is to review your message against a campaign checklist. Checklists should be used by all parts of the email development team. Designers may want to create a checklist for their team and programmers will definitely want a checklist to make sure all their technical requirements are covered. The account managers or campaign schedulers should also have one to confirm campaign accuracy before hitting the send button.

With that in mind, we’ve prepared an Email Campaign Checklist that you can use as part of your QA process.

Download the Email Campaign Checklist in Word or PDF format.

In upcoming posts we’ll also provide other checklists that you may find useful, so make sure you subscribe via email or RSS.

If you follow these checklist items we hope that you’ll catch any errors pre-delivery and that you’ll feel a lot more confident when you release your campaign. Good luck!

If you have any suggestions for improvements to our checklist we’d appreciate your input. Feel free to provide feedback in the comments below.